“Their family background, their cultural background and their understanding. How they fit into this country because they are immigrants, from what I understand,” said Atwal.

Also of high importance in the personality profile will be any history of mental illness, political and religious beliefs, she said.

Atwal added that it is significant the suspects are brothers.

“One may (have) been the leader and the other the follower,” she said. “So understanding the relationship between the two brothers maybe (is) important to understand how this came about.”

Also speaking to KCRA 3 News on Friday was a cultural psychologist from the U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

Dr. Francis Lu said it will be important to know about the brothers’ psychological connection to their cultural homeland, war-torn Chechnya.

“To what extent did they experience that personally, or to what extent that might have effected their psychology in terms of loyalty to a national government, for example," said Lu. “But we also need to try to understand what’s happened to then since they’ve come to this country.”

Atwal said because the suspect is so young, just 19, he is more likely to open up to and explain his motivations.

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